Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on June 8, 2014 @ tonymacklin.net.

Edge of Tomorrow is an ebullient melee of an action film.

And, beneath the surface it percolates. It has evocative layers.

Basically, Edge of Tomorrow is the story of Major William Cage (Tom Cruise), a callow publicist for the military, who is transformed into a fierce fighting machine. He has to experience almost countless deaths and come back each time to evolve into a man who has the knowledge and the skills to help heroic Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) save the human race from total destruction by alien power.

The source of the alien power is the Omega. Rita says to Cage, "You have to die every day until the Omega is destroyed."

OK. The idea of a Cruise character evolving is promising. And the idea that he is mastered for most of the movie by a woman is piquant.

But the film has even more potential possibilities to offer.

One of the most engaging is to see Edge of Tomorrow as metaphor. Cage's experience, in many ways, is analogous to the experience of Cruise and director Doug Liman in making a movie. This is not to blunt (pun intended) the film's surface. It just goes further.

Cruise as a beginning actor probably shared some of Cage's callowness. But he became proficient. And then a blockbuster. Cruise also has been an easy target as Cage is. His couch episode with Oprah has defined him for many people. He is misunderstood and often denigrated because of appearance. In Edge of Tomorrow, Cage is sitting in a tavern when an old veteran calls him, "coward." The vet has no idea.

Audiences often miss the prowess of Tom Cruise as an actor.

To General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson), Cage says, "I'm not a soldier. Really." Neither is Cruise what he portrays on screens.

Brigham could easily be a stubborn producer instead of a general. Brigham has little imagination. In Hollywood?

A discredited scientist (Noah Taylor) says, "The Omega needs a live Alpha to make it work." Rita responds, "We don't need one. We've got the next best thing." Tom Cruise is there.

"I've lost the power," Cruise says, at one time, but have no fear - the Cruise power will shine again. He's always regained his power at the box office.

Edge of Tomorrow is credited to screenwriters Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth, and John-Henry Butterworth, from a source by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. They can juggle.

Cinema often promotes war. Filmmakers work within a system that often frustrates the creative individual. The actor has to redo a scene a bunch of times.

I lost count of the times that Cage redid his experience. How many times do Liman and Cruise reshoot a scene?

Rita says she watched a man (whom it appears she loved) die 300 times. Maybe "take 300" is not plausible, but the assemblage of 300 takes is.

Near the end, finally Rita fervently kisses Cage. Whew.

But like many movies, the ending of Edge of Tomorrow has tacked-on uplift. One hopes Liman and Cruise intended a bit of whimsical irony in the generic ending.

The Edge of Tomorrow loses its surface edge. But it still may be sharp beneath the surface.

© 2000-2023 Tony Macklin